Dilly Delhi

A synopsis of our four days in Delhi:

Hotel: The somewhat lacklustre Anoop Hotel can be found in a pretty grungy part of town by the main train staion, set up as a cheap backpacker area. Cheap yes - and you definitley get what you pay for. Suffice to say we had little desire to spend much time in our room and avoided touching the walls or furniture. Sleeping was also a little difficult given the incredibly busy street outside our window. When we finally did get to sleep one night, we were shocked into a semi conscious state at 3 am by the sound of firecrackers right outside our window, followed by clanging bells and loud singing. Some sort of parade. We would have opened our window to take a look but didn't relish the thought of a firecracker in the face. Saving grace of the hotel was the decent rooftop resturaunt (serving thai, european, chinese, indian and isreali food).

Friends: Our only reason for sticking around Delhi was to connect with a few friends that were on their way home from a trek in the mountains around Darjeeling. It was great to see Jess, Heather and Cathy in such unfamiliar territory. No we are not standing beside a giant orange cake. This is a cheesy sign made with little yellow flowers. Lots of time was spent looking at Jess's fabulous photos (which put our meager little snapshots to shame), sharing travel stories, drinking chai, eating banana chocolate pancakes and seeing the sights of Delhi.


The Sights: We first saw the Red Fort (see left) and it's museum complete with entertaining signage (see right), and then got ripped off attempting to climb a minaret at india's largest mosque (you have to buy a ticket to climb up and you do so lured by the anticipation of a good view and then just before you reach the final set of stairs a grouchy old man tells you that you can't take your shoes up - we were allowed to carry them through the rest of the mosque. So he charges you an exorbitant price to "watch" your shoes and you really have no choice as you aren't going to get a refund on the ticket you bought. So you either go home with no view or pay up. grrrrrr. We payed up. The view was nothing to brag about and the very uncomfortable climb up tiny tiny dark stairs with many others coming down at the same time was something we could have missed). All five of us then squished into a rickshaw to see gandhi's memorial where a group of adults and children were spinning cotton on the grass.

We then attempted to walk through a gandhi museum, but ended up getting there 15 min before closing so we ran through instead. Sights the next day included the train station, the wonderful crafts emporiums and the inside of a travel agency.

The Train Station: We heard there was a tourist ticket booking office at the staion so decided to go there to buy our tickets. Wasn't as easy as we thought it would be. Here is a description of the events that followed as described by Jess, and stolen off her blog:

First thing in the morning we headed out to the train station (our hotel was about the equivalent of 3 blocks from the station). We were looking for the Tourist Information Centre on the 2nd floor of the building. We had been warned that this is one place people would really try to scam a tourist & boy were the warnings right. What a slick operation. As we headed toward the entrance way a man (holding what looked like a hand radio) stepped in front of us and asked to see our tickets. This is not an unreasonable request and, as we didn't yet have the tickets we were not allowed in the building - just like at the airports...

Alright then- where can we go to get our tickets? Well explained the man- you actually have to go out onto the street, down a little to the left & you will see an office called (sorry I cant recall the name). If you just check page ____ of your Lonely Planet Guide- here let me show you- you will see the office is labeled right here. OK, fine thank you sir. Wait- whats that? We need to take this rickshaw so we don't get harassed by people who will try to rip us off? Only Rs 10?

While the fellow was quite smooth & convincing (the see in the lonely planet guide thing was a nice touch) we had been warned. When we decided we would walk to the office rather then take a cab he got a bit more pushy. He gave up temporality but when he saw us headed back towards the building he fired up the BS again... we just walked by & eventually (by following the signs) found the Tourist Office.

Thanks Jess. Send us a few of your amazing pictures when you get a chance (or at least a link).

The Cows: There are a lot of cows - everywhere, as they are not eaten or used for work, they wander the streets to their hearts content, standing in the middle of the road, eating garbage, shopping for jewellry...

And that was Delhi.